It's September again! (From Bucks Free Press)

It's September again!

9:27pm Tuesday 7th September 2010

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Wow! What happened to those six weeks?

Usually, when I return to work after the summer break, I feel like I’ve been away for absolutely ages. This year however, when I returned last Thursday, it seemed like it had only been a couple of weeks at most.

Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking about when I was young, when the summers seemed to go on forever. The technological gadgets that consume the lives of the majority of the young these days only existed in Star Trek and Lost In Space, so every day, all day, was spent outside.

I know the names of very few of our neighbours now. Back in the seventies, we knew all of the families that lived down our end of the street, and consequently all the kids would play together. There was a park a few minutes away but, with considerably fewer cars on the road, our football pitch of choice was the road. We used to buy our penny sweets with the money we earned from returning empty glass bottles back to the shops, and spent hours and hours paddling in the filthy, rubbish infested brook down the end of our road. Very few of our mums drove and so ‘days out’ were never on the agenda. Occasionally we would be given the money to go swimming or to the pictures - these trips would entail a bus ride or, if we wanted to save our money for some extra sweets, a rather long walk instead.

If my frequent and extended absences made my mum feel abandoned, she never said as much. Occasionally I would get a good telling off for not being home in time for lunch, but overall I think she was quite happy being left alone with her housework or in her beloved garden, and the company of her transistor radio.

Despite the fact that the carefree days of my childhood are far behind me, I still love the summer break. And it’s not because of the lie-ins (I’m not a late sleeper anyway), and it’s not because they give me the chance to catch up on a few outstanding jobs, or even that I get to eat my lunch sitting down rather than while dodging footballs in the playground! Nope, I love the summer break because I get to spend a little quality time with my son and daughter...when they’re not out and about with friends that is!

Bye for now.

Tania